C# Signature:

    [DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, PreserveSig = false)]
    public static extern void SHCreateItemFromParsingName(
        [In][MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pszPath,
        [In] IntPtr pbc,
        [In][MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)] Guid riid,
        [Out][MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Interface, IidParameterIndex = 2)] out IShellItem ppv);

VB Signature:

     <DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Unicode, PreserveSig:=False)> _
     Public Shared Sub SHCreateItemFromParsingName( _
         <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)> ByVal pszPath As String, _
         ByVal pbc As IntPtr, _
         <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)> ByVal riid As Guid, _
         <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Interface, IidParameterIndex:=2)> ByRef ppv As IShellItem)
     End Sub

User-Defined Types:

None.

Alternative Managed API:

Do you know one? Please contribute it!

Notes:

The type of the created COM object is usually an IShellItem instance; however, it does not have to be. (For example, you can ask for IShellItem2). To support different object types, change the type of the ppv parameter to match. Alternatively, specify a parameter of type object for ppv and perform the typecasting on return. The type of object returned in ppv will be the same as the type of interface given in the riid parameter.

Tips & Tricks:

Please add some!

Sample Code:

        IShellItem oItem;
        SHCreateItemFromParsingName(path, IntPtr.Zero, typeof(IShellItem).GUID, out oItem);